


what’s not to share

by Lire_Casander



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, M/M, Mentions of bar brawls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23595340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: Alex hasn't worked so hard on his pirate status to see it all go down the drain because of one Michael Guerin.
Relationships: Isobel Evans/Maria DeLuca (mentioned), Kyle Valenti/Jenna Cameron (mentioned), Max Evans/Liz Ortecho (mentioned), Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30
Collections: Time After Time: A Roswell New Mexico Alternate Era AU Event, there will always be an us (in every world in every story)





	what’s not to share

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoniaEarpHaught](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoniaEarpHaught/gifts).



> Written for the [Time After Time Event](https://alterarnm.tumblr.com/) over a Tumblr, **Day 2: pirates**.
> 
> Prompt given by [fiona-glenanne-westen](https://fiona-glenanne-westen.tumblr.com/): **Captains of the same ship (For the pirate prompt: how about Michael and Alex are both pirate captains who have both, at different points, stolen and been captain of the same ship and at this point both consider the ship to be theirs?)**
> 
> Beta'ed by [whitneylj01](https://whitnelj01.tumblr.com/)

Alex has had enough already, and he’s only entered the bar ten minutes ago. He came in for rum and a good brawl after getting the biggest loot this week, his pirate crew in tow, and the last thing he wanted to do had been face Guerin in the same space so soon after their last fight.

“Swords spoke instead of words,” Kyle likes to say when describing the situation, with both Guerin and Alex brandishing their weapons, assassin looks on their faces. Alex prefers to describe it like one very brave captain defending what’s his from a usurper.

“I just can’t believe they allow him around these days,” Liz tells them as she bends over the bar and picks the best bottle of rum she can get. Maria, on the other side of the counter, just rolls her eyes and throws her cloth at Liz playfully. Alex knows Maria is on their side ― or at least he hopes so ― but she has to make an income in these trying times when the King’s Fleet is attempting to take their business down.

Alex huffs, pointedly not looking over at the corner where Guerin and his own crew are celebrating something or the other ― most probably having stolen _another_ ship from some unknowing captain. “I still don’t understand why you haven’t kicked him out, Maria,” he says loud enough for his voice to carry through the air. “Every time they come here, they leave your bar in shreds.”

“Last time it was also your fault, if I’m not mistaken,” Maria winks at him playfully. “And I allow you to enter my bar, sweetheart.”

“It’s not the same and you know it,” Alex protests; he will later deny his words coming out with an undignified squeak. “He’s always provoking me. He _stole_ my baby.”

“He didn’t steal your baby _on purpose_ , Alex,” Rosa intervenes with a smirk on her lips as she inspects the contents of her glass. “He didn’t know the Black Lady wasn’t up for grabs.”

“How could he _not_ know?” Alex protests, his own drink forgotten in front of him. “It’s not like there was a sign there saying _pick me_. The black flag was _up_!”

“It was a misunderstanding,” Liz laughs. “You two got too worked up about something that wasn’t all that much.”

“Are you on my side or on his?” Alex can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I hear that he’s accepting traitors among his crew.”

“Hold back there, Captain,” Kyle finally speaks up. “Nobody’s saying that. But that fight was when? Before we took over Kingston? It’s old news!”

“He _thought_ he was captain of _my_ ship!” Alex finally explodes. He remembers what he felt when he came on board the Black Lady, high on booze and victory after sinking one of his father’s ships, only to find a different crew had crept into his reign while Rosa had been on watch ― and probably had fallen asleep on the job somehow. He stepped onto his ship only to find a different kind of crew ― different pirates, different captain ― ravishing his pantry and chanting on his floors while Rosa simply snored away. He even thought they had dosed her with something stronger than rum.

He’d been faced with honey eyes with just a tinge of whiskey, curls he’d die to touch and a smirk that had hypnotized him. He knew he had been bewitched by the charm of the sea when at a very young age he’d run from his home and sworn he would destroy everything Jesse Manes had built; he just hadn’t known that he could be lured into another kind of magic, the very same one he’d felt when he’d looked straight into Guerin’s eyes and had wanted to both kiss him and smack him as Guerin had said, “Well, now I’m the captain of this fine lady.”

Alex had seen red and the need to punch Guerin had been stronger than the one to kiss him ― and he’d started a fight on top of his ship that will forever be etched in the memory of those who took part in it.

He inhales deeply after having yelled his last words, letting go of all his anger at once. Unfortunately, his outburst takes place at the very same moment as a lull in the noise around them falls across the bar, and the crowd stares at him agape.

“Didn’t know you still held that grudge, _captain_ ,” comes a drawl that Alex has been intimately acquainted with, he’s heard it so much while fighting Guerin.

“Didn’t know you still got in matters that ain’t yours,” he retaliates without even turning around to face the other pirate. He already knows what Guerin looks like ― messy curls, whiskey-colored eyes, a shirt that once was white, and the tightest pants Alex has ever seen on a pirate. “Just leave us alone, Guerin, unless you want another fist in your face, just like last time.”

There’s laughter at his back, and it’s all he can do not to stand up and face that irreverent pirate fists first. He knows how that would end ― he doesn’t really want to be banned from the Wild Pony for life. For all the fun he’s made of Maria’s choice of a name for a bar that accommodates pirates as a safe haven, he loves it there ― he loves being able to be _himself_ somewhere, something he hasn’t been able to do for a long time, until he escaped the nightmare that his father’s house had become.

“Are you threatening me?” Guerin says; Alex can’t stop himself and he half-turns to face the other pirate who had the nerve to come on board of _his_ ship and claim it as his. “Well, at least tonight you have the guts to look me in the eye.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Guerin,” Alex says derisively, lifting one eyebrow up. “I don’t tend to give anyone the time of day if they don’t deserve my attention.”

“Well, it seems I’m deserving enough.”

Alex shakes his head and turns back to his drink, grabbing it with steady fingers, but he doesn’t get to take it to his lips. A hand crawls in between his glass and his hand, batting it away and forcing Alex to look up again in disbelief. “Seriously, Guerin? Are you _that_ desperate for a fight?”

“Only one way to find out,” Guerin says suggestively, knocking the glass over the table and waiting for Alex to jump to his feet. Which doesn’t happen, because Alex doesn’t want a fight tonight. He might not be over the whole ship stealing thing yet, but he isn’t about to cause a scene inside Maria’s bar so soon after he’s managed to get a whole lot of money in his pocket by raiding a new King’s ship.

He thinks he’s succeeding until he sees Kyle rising to his feet, and Max Evans ― Guerin’s right hand on his ship ― mimicking him with a tension to his body that wasn’t there before. Alex knows he has to stop whatever this is before it escalates. Maria won’t be happy if they break her tables and destroy her bar _again_. He sighs and stands up, a little wobbly on his fake leg ― a gift from his last encounter with his father. “Okay,” he says evenly. “I’ll deal with it. Outside. Kyle,” he continues, warningly. “I expect you to act like the gentleman you’re _not_ and not start a fight inside while I fix this wrong.” He’s using his captain voice, the one he knows will make his crew stay put and not begin any brawl. 

“Aye, captain,” Kyle says. Alex doesn’t move until the rest of his crew complies like Kyle has done, and not until Guerin’s crew sits back down with evident signs of distress all over their faces. Once he can deem the situation inside the bar safe, he limps out of the bar.

“Ain’t you coming, Guerin?” he asks over his shoulder. “Thought you were out for blood.”

“That I am,” Guerin says almost too cheerfully, following him outside. 

Alex walks and walks and walks until he’s far enough from the bar not to be heard or even _seen_ , turning a corner and then another. He feels his heart thumping inside his chest as he hears steps behind him. He braces himself for the blow, for the force pushing him forward. A hand comes to land on his forearm, fingers digging in his skin, making him turn around with less violence than anyone would have anticipated. His back collides against the nearest wall, but his head doesn’t hit the bricks. He looks down at plush lips smiling up at him, almost at the same level as his, and he smirks. “Ain’t you too close for comfort?”

Guerin lets go of his arm and plants his hands by Alex’s sides on the wall, leaning in until he’s a breath away from Alex’s lips. “Is there such thing as _too_ close?”

Alex laughs heartily and surges forward, claiming those lips as his as he threads his fingers through those curls he’s got acquainted to closely for some months now. He smiles into the kiss, making it almost impossible to keep on when all he can feel is his tongue not slipping into Guerin’s mouth because they’re both smiling too widely. “No, there isn’t.”

“We should stop,” Guerin whispers. “Anyone could see us.”

“Are you afraid, Guerin?”

“Of you?” Guerin huffs out a laugh. “Always. You kicked my ass out there.”

Alex shakes his head and lunges forward, kissing Guerin again. He doesn’t know how he went from wanting to kill the pirate to actually being involved with him, in a kind of relationship that, if found out, would be frowned upon and prosecuted by both pirates and King’s marines. But he didn’t escape the Manes household ― where he’d been beaten to a pulp for even wanting to _look_ at the sea ― to end up hanged by some idiots who thought they were better because they loved women.

“That I did,” he retaliates. Guerin stops kissing him and simply caresses his cheek, fingers tracing the outline of his jaw until Alex is reduced to a trembling mess of limbs and feelings. If his crew saw him right now, his reputation would be destroyed. 

“I just can’t believe how lucky I got that it was your ship I stole,” Guerin whispers, again too close. “It’s been my best idea so far, to become captain of the Black Lady by force.”

“You’re not her captain!” Alex complains, pushing Guerin back, and giving him the stink eye. “That’s _me_!”

“Keep dreaming, loverboy,” Guerin says back, leaning in again and claiming Alex’s lips in a searing kiss that silences Alex for the longest time.

He will deny it later, when he comes back to the bar without any broken bones or black eyes or swollen knuckles, with reddened lips and messy hair and a jacket worn backwards, but his crew isn’t that far behind in calling him on his lies as Liz sits on Max Evans’ lap and Kyle all but shares a bottle of something that’s definitely not rum with Jenna Cameron. Alex gives up trying to understand what's going on when he sees Maria shamelessly flirting with Isobel Evans, Guerin's sister and his second in command. He just wants to enjoy the freedom that comes with his newfound happiness.

When Guerin enters the bar mere seconds later, looking exactly the same kind of debauched that Alex feels, everyone catcalls and hollers. It’s then when Alex realizes that he hasn’t been as stealthy as he thought he’d been. Maria winks at him and offers him a bottle of whiskey and two glasses that he refuses, grabbing the bottle and offering it to Guerin with a sincere smile on his face. “Care to share?”

“We’re sharing more than whiskey here, aren’t we?” Guerin jokes, but Alex isn’t buying into it.

“Over my dead body, Guerin!”

“That can be arranged,” Guerin tells him, snatching the bottle from Alex’s hands and earning himself the approval of the crowd in the form of more yells and some wolf whistles.


End file.
